Thanks to a borrowed set of discs I get to see Buffy, woo hoo! only about a decade after everyone else.
Noticed a funny blunder in “Teacher’s Pet”, an early episode: the bio teacher talks about ants while displaying a slide of a beetle. Perhaps this illustrates an absence of mind which contributes to his being eaten a few minutes later.
The war on terror is, in one sense, a Saudi civil war that the royal family has successfully exported to the rest of the world. The rest of the world should see that it’s repatriated.
Me: “If I’m a bit depressed, it’s probably because I haven’t seen blue sky for a couple of days.”
She: “I know, isn’t it great? Sorry.”
I’ve been looking through my blog archives for major items to add to the “past rants” list on my front page [since removed, Dec’04], as well as for broken links. That activity led me again to Francis Fukuyama’s goofy screed of 2002 May 2, and I finally got around to following links to a whole mess of replies: John Tabin; Brink Lindsey [gone]; Glenn Reynolds; Dan Hanson; Stephen Green; Virginia Postrel; Perry de Havilland; David Dieteman; Christopher Pellerito; Eugene Volokh; Anand Giridharadas.
I am disappointed to find practically all of them making the same point: “But Frank, lots of libertarians support US military interventions overseas.” If anyone anywhere joined me in observing that military force is not the only way to engage with the world, I missed it. If anyone pointed out a distinction between defense and intervention, I missed it.
Oh well. “It is not worth an intelligent man’s time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.” (G H Hardy)
Alas, “The Complete Beavis and Butt-Head” (six DVDs) apparently includes none of the boys’ commentary on music videos. One understands the copyright problem, but gee whiz, that’s some of the best bits gone.
I’m quite pleased with my new Coleman air-mattress. It replaces one from Greatland [Target’s house brand] which was rather less like a bed than like a quicksand pit.
Later: The air-mattress apparently succumbed to Fluffie’s claws as she scrambled up to keep me company. I now have a conventional mattress, sadly less comfortable.
This morning I watched a five-way conversation in sign language, in which two of the participants were blind: the blind ‘listener’ rests a hand loosely around one of the speaker’s hands. I was surprised at how little touch was apparently needed.